Together
by CheveronChick
Summary: They had accepted their luck had run out, they had accepted they would die. It seemed unlikely anything would happen to cause otherwise. But that didn't matter much to them; all that mattered was that they did it together.


She knew that they were in trouble. She knew.

The treetops groaned and swayed around them with the weight of the spiders, branches crashing to the ground in their uncaring haste.

A few yips were heard when they fell on one of the plethoras of wargs struggling to navigate the twisting underbrush.

She looked up at him, and found the same haunting knowledge reflected.

She took the hands he silently offered from the branch above.

They waited for their best opportunity to strike.

**.**

With the silent raising of a hand, he ordered the arrows to fly.

Spiders dropped, and wargs howled in pain.

But so did the elves, and they all knew this would be a fruitless attempt at survival.

Not surprising.

Most things in this forest had stopped growing long ago, their fruits a distant memory. He shot arrow after arrow, each one hitting its mark.

At least they would not have to know a world without the other. At least they could enter the halls together.

They had always done things together after all, why not dying?

**.**

She didn't know when he had fallen. Didn't know where he was.

War rarely allowed for such luxuries.

Still, even with eyes blurred with tears from the devastating rage such knowledge brought, it would only be to the detriment of her opponents.

They had taken the most important thing from her. The only thing that had kept her sane through the semblance of a life they had crammed between tragedies.

The one she loved above all else.

And they had taken it from her.

The air seemed still and stale. Hanging limply from the branches and draping over his face to make his already labored breaths all the more difficult.

He heard the sounds of his gasps, but couldn't have possibly done anything to stop them.

Dully, his ears recognized the sounds of the fighting continuing.

**.0**

If she was going to die, she planned to be the biggest nuisance on her way out that she could.

Those few elves left standing seemed to agree.

More wargs fells, and spiders soon after.

Sometimes, cold acceptance was an even better motivator than rage.

**0.0.0. **

The air hated him. It oozed away from the grasp of his lungs quicker than the blood from his wounds.

It was so hot.

He wanted to look for her. Wanted to at least turn his head.

But his body no longer belonged to him.

He just wanted to breathe.

**0.0.0.**

Satisfied that the wounds they had inflicted were grievous enough to kill, the spiders fled back to their masters.

She tried to ignore the fire growing steadily through her body.

The world tipped to the side and she stumped to stay upright, her vision spinning momentarily in the opposite way.

But even so, she managed to notice the blond hair she so desperately searched for.

She tried to go that way, but the world tipped again and she tripped over a body and fell to the ground.

**0.0.0. **

He hoped she was okay.

Even as selfishly he wished he could have seen her again, at least once. Seen her smile.

Felt her hand in his.

If only he could have made sure she knew how he felt.

If only he wasn't alone.

It was so hard to breathe.

**0.0.0. **

As more adrenaline left her body, she became aware of other injuries. Aside from accepting the fact that she would have to pull herself across the forest floor on her stomach, she ignored them.

She could hear his labored breaths.

She would never find it forgiveness for herself if she was this close, and he died alone.

She could never.

She forced the arm that didn't want to work to pull her faster.

**0.0.0 **

He had never been so heartbroken but so happy to see something in his life.

If he had the energy or the breath, he might have sobbed at the sight.

A few tears slipped from her eyes and mixed with the blood on her face. Her beautiful face that he could have stared at for days.

If only Mandos had given them the days.

"It's alright," she managed, even as blood continued to leak from a wound on her head, "I'm here. We'll be alright."

**0.0.0. **

She knew he wanted to say so many things. She could see all of it in on his face.

She knew. They had never once said it, but she knew.

She wished she could have heard it.

All she could think to repeat was, "We'll be alright."

**. **

That was a lie.

They both knew it was a lie.

They wouldn't be alright.

But she smiled at him, and his heart kept beating for the sight alone. He didn't need air, as long as she kept smiling at him.

He knew it was a lie.

"We'll be together," He managed.

**0.0.0. **

She forced her numb hands to move, finding the place where the spider had stung him near the chest.

By pure will alone, she managed to dislodge the stinger from its hole, and rolled it off and away.

His lungs gasped with grateful breaths, significantly more free than before.

Energy spent, she let her lay her body down beside his.

**0.0.0. **

Finally, at last, a suggestion of air finally waltzed into his body. His lungs grasped at it eagerly.

Blood warmed his side and then his back, soaking into the soil.

As a last gift to him, Eru let his hand find hers.

The world grew darker, and the forest faded away.

She could no longer feel the sun on her skin, or the pain from the poison.

Her life seemed borrowed and hollow.

His fingers never let go.

They would be together.

**0.0.0. **

He felt weightless and translucent.

Like everything inside of him had been bled out and lay solemnly around him in the leaves.

He might have drifted off to the stars had her hand not kept him tethered to the thin grasp of his life.

**0.0.0. **

The grass welcomed her with a kind embrace.

And the tree's sang her a lullaby.

The oblivion pressed forwards, but his hand did not let go.

She tried to focus on the lullaby.

**0.0.0. **

He heard the call of his mother, and his heart yearned for the comfort of her arms.

Oh, how he wanted her to take this unbearable pain away.

_You must let go, _a voice whispered.

He held tighter.

**.0 **

Something began to tug gently on the thing strings left of her life.

They began to unravel all too easily.

Forcefully she snatched at the ones that were left, and slipped it between their hands.

There were a few more tugs, but she did not notice.

They were together, and so her life still lay safe within their hands.

**0.0.0.**

The impatience around him grew, pressing in on all sides like he was underwater.

He didn't care. He wasn't done yet.

The pressure could wait.

They were not done being together.

**0.0.0.**

The creatures of the forest swarmed for the food, devouring the wargs but not touching the spiders.

She felt the creatures pause over them solemnly. A few wolves and foxes attempted to lick their wounds clean before realizing it was a futile attempt.

She gripped his hand tighter, as a deep and sorrowful howl filled the night.

**0.0.0. **

He couldn't let go.

He couldn't let go.

He couldn't let go.

**0.0.0 **

She forced her soul to cling desperately to the body that felt thin as paper. Trying to focus on the heat from the wolfpack that had settled around them for heat.

They made it easier to trap her inside the body.

They made it easier for her to make sure he didn't drift away from her.

They had to stay together.

**0.0.0 **

It seemed the force had finally lost patience, and it came to physically pull at their hands.

She held him tighter.

The darkness swirled with greedy hands, and his ears ignored the world.

**0.0.0. **

"You have to let go of him."

She gripped his hand tighter.

"You did it. You saved him. You kept him here, you did wonderful. You did so good, but you need to let go of him now."

She didn't understand. She couldn't let go. He would drift away from her if she did. He would go.

He would leave her.

She would be alone.

She didn't want to be alone.

She wanted to stay together

Gentle hands touched her face, hands her skin knew. Hands that had never brought harm but had only ever held healing and guidance. These were not the hands that had been waiting for them.

The voice was just as kind as the hands, but desperate and sad, "Beautiful girl of sun and flowers, you're safe. You're together."

Together.

They were together.

They could stay together.

"But you have to let go now. You have to trust me."

And so she let go.

She trusted.

And the world fell away against whatever will she had left.

**0.0.0 **

Her hand let go.

And others took its place.

He fell into the warm darkness.

**0.0.0. **

Once she had drifted from the embrace of the world, it seemed reluctant to let her back in.

Snippets of time and sounds bombarded her tired mind.

A mind that seemed uninterested in the pain the body had to offer.

The world continued to spin out of her grasp.

**0.0.0 **

He wanted something.

He couldn't let himself fall back into oblivion until he found it.

Together. He wanted to be together.

His body was weak, and the pull of sleep too strong.

He tried to find her hand.

He didn't want to be in the darkness alone.

**0.0.0. **

The world slammed back into her feet.

"Put them on the bed together."

Together.

"My King?"

Together.

"Now."

He was laid next to her, the back of his hand coming to rest against hers.

She slipped her fingers into his, pleased to find all strings of her life still tied to his fingers.

**0.0.0. **

He gripped her hand tighter the second his body crawled back to the light.

She moved closer to him, and it brought more warmth than the sun every could hope to manage in all his collective years on the world.

Years he still had the chance of spending with her.

Together.

How good it was to breathe again.

**0.0.0 **

She felt him kiss her shoulder, and turned her head to the side and forced her eyes open.

He looked tired and pale, but the sparks of joy and love immediately returned to his eyes when she looked into them. It made her smile so hard it nearly hurt her head, but it was one he returned with a considerable amount of tears.

Her voice was hoarse with disuse, "I told you that we would be alright."

His body allowed a suggestion of laugh, and he maneuvered himself closer still, "We always are, as long as we're together."

"Exactly."

He fell back asleep, hand still in hers and she drifted off not soon after.

**0.0.0. **


End file.
